[Quote No.62914] Need Area: Friends > General "[Small, limited government rather than large, unlimited as in ever more 'paternalistic-interventionist' government, because 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely':] Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume. The public money and public liberty...will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them; distinguished, too, by this tempting circumstance, that they are the instrument, as well as the object of acquisition. With money we will get men, said Caesar, and with men we will get money. Nor should our assembly be deluded by the integrity of their own purposes, and conclude that these unlimited powers will never be abused, because themselves are not disposed to abuse them. They should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when a corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be spread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and make them pay the price." - Thomas JeffersonFrom his 'Notes on Virginia' published 1784.Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this AuthorStart Searching Amazon for GiftsSend as Free eCard with optional Google Image

[Quote No.62940] Need Area: Friends > General "All men are created equally free and independent and have certain inherent and natural rights ... , among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety." - George MasonAmerican planter and politician who participated in the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention. He was especially influential as the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was echoed in the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the United States Bill of Rights (1789). [This quote is from Section 1 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776 - refer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Declaration_of_Rights ]Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this AuthorStart Searching Amazon for GiftsSend as Free eCard with optional Google Image

[Quote No.63002] Need Area: Friends > General "Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of this protection; and to give his personal service, or an equivalent, when necessary. But no part of the property of any individual can, with justice, be taken from him, or applied to public uses, without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people. In fine, the people of this commonwealth are not controllable by any other laws than those to which their constitutional representative body have given their consent." - John Adams(1735-1826) Founding Father, 2nd US President. Source: Thoughts on Government, 1776.
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[Quote No.63401] Need Area: Friends > General "If I said, 'The live-and-let-live people I've met are generally warm and generous, although often reserved and respectful, while the control freaks I've met are generally cynical, mean and aggressively obnoxious,' would that seem likely to be true?
Of course it does. It IS true, and it's obviously logically consistent and what you'd expect.
BUT, if I said, 'I've found the intellectual defenders of private property and laissez-faire capitalism whom I've met to be generally warm and generous, while the so-called 'liberal' defenders of the welfare state I've found to be often cynical, mean and tight-fisted in their personal lives,' would THAT seem likely to be true?
Think about it. Well, it's also true.... it's a matter of semantics, or word choice. BECAUSE BOTH SENTENCES SAY EXACTLY THE SAME THING." - Rick GaberLibertarian writer. Source: Selfishness vs. 'Selfishness'
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